Electrical connectors are known in which terminals have post sections for electrical connection to socket means such as plated through-holes of printed circuit panels, where the post section cross-section is rectangular with very small dimensions and where the array of post sections must be axially aligned and positioned precisely enough to correspond with an array of holes in the panel to be mounted thereto. An example of such a connector is a burn-in socket as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,256. Such a burn-in socket is first mounted to a printed circuit panel and then has removably mounted thereto a semiconductor package, which is an electrical connector having an integrated circuit chip secured therewithin, in order to test the semiconductor package to ensure its proper functioning. Such a test involves placing the package assembled in the burn-in socket mounted on a burn-in panel, into a large convection oven and operating the package electrically at elevated temperatures for an appropriate length of time, called "burn-in". Terminals of the chip connector are electrically joined to leads of the chip and have contact sections exposed for connection to corresponding contact means of an electrical article such as a printed circuit panel for in-service use. The burn-in socket includes terminals which electrically connect these semiconductor package contact sections to the burn-in circuit panel. Such a burn-in procedure involves many semiconductor packages in respective burn-in sockets simultaneously on a single burn-in panel, and the terminals of the sockets include post sections extending below the socket to be soldered within plated through-holes or other socket means of the burn-in panel. An example of such a post section would be one with a rectangular cross-section having dimensions of 0.0135 by 0.0170 inches, where the length of the post section would be about 0.338 inches of which about 0.098 inches would be retained within the housing passageway and the remainder of 0.240 inches would extend outwardly from the housing to electrically connect with the burn-in panel socket means.
A major concern in the manufacture of the burn-in sockets is the retention, alignment and precise positioning of the very small dimensioned post sections of terminals inserted into housing passageways for mounting to the burn-in panel. It would be desirable for the passageways of the dielectric housing of the burn-in socket to be very closely dimensioned and shaped to match the dimension and shape in cross-section of the post sections so that the passageway holds the post section at a precise position along the panel-mating face, and that at each location along the length of the passageway the post section is closely held thereby keeping it axially aligned. If the core pin for molding a passageway for the terminal post section were to be dimensioned closely to the terminal discussed above, an exemplary core pin would be 0.014 by 0.021 inches over a length of 0.098 inches. However, to mold passageways having such very small cross-sectional dimensions is unrealistic due to the undesirable flexibility and the lack of durability of mold core pins having such very small dimensions.
One method of attaining these goals has been to mold a larger-dimensioned passageway generally rectangular in cross-section and then to compensate by relying on a retention feature on the terminal to coact with the larger passageway to retain the terminal centered in the passageway. It has proven difficult to form an adequate retention feature by stamping a kink, for example, on the post section of the terminal outward from one side of the terminal to engage the passageway wall on that side, and still result in the post section on both sides of the feature being precisely axially aligned prior to as well as during terminal insertion into the passageway. It is desired to obtain assured better positioning and axial alignment of the terminal post section than can be accomplished with the prior art method.